Leaney sends out pair of improving, speedy contenders
:quality(75))
This meet has proven to be somewhat rough sledding for the “Hastings Five,” the quintet of trainers who moved their stables from the currently dark Vancouver, B.C., track to Emerald Downs for the 2026 season. But Patty Leaney, the lone woman in the group, has held her own.
Heading into Saturday, Leaney had six wins from 36 starts at the current Emerald meet – one more than Steve Henson and two more than Mark Cloutier. Leaney’s 17 percent win rate is her best since 2022 in a career that began in 1996, and her trainees have finished second an additional seven times.
In race 4 Saturday, a $25,000 claiming sprint for horses 3 and older, Leaney sends out perhaps her barn’s most promising horse, Count Dalia. The 3-year-old gelding, who will break from the far outside in a six-horse field, put everything together over Saturday’s six-furlong distance on July 24, winning a $10,000 maiden race by 7 1/4 lengths and posting a field-best 77 Beyer Speed Figure.
Leaney and the horse’s owners, Joe and Gloria Russo, then took a big swing by entering Count Dalia in the $50,000 Muckleshoot Derby on Aug. 16, where he finished last of 10 in the 1 1/16-mile race at odds of 35-1.
“We knew we were kind of reaching, but it’s your only shot, so why not?” said Leaney. “He’s got a lot of speed. I don’t know so much that he can’t get the distance, but he can’t get it going that fast. In the future, we’ll try [routing] again, but for now, we’ll sprint. He is kind of a slow developer. He’s coming around.”
Expect Count Dalia to go straight to the lead under Alex Cruz.
“I think we gotta go for the lead,” said Leaney. “He’s kind of shown us that’s where he wants to be.”
In race 2, an $8,000 claiming sprint for nonwinners of three at six furlongs, Leaney sends out another gelding, the 4-year-old Golden Regal, who’s coming off a career-best effort. In a 5 1/2-furlong sprint on Aug. 1, Golden Regal patiently stalked the pace before unleashing an impressive stretch-long bid that involved a brilliant inside dive by jockey Talliyah Timentwa, winning by a length and earning a career-high 65 Beyer.
“He’s another one who’s always been kind of slow figuring things out,” said Leaney. “He had some setbacks earlier this year. He needed a start under him to show his best and hopefully he’ll do that again. Talliyah gave him a fantastic ride that day.”
To Golden Regal’s immediate inside in post 3 will be Mister O, who boasts the most early speed in the six-horse field and its highest last-out Beyer, a 69. Leaney said she’d like her horse to sit “just off the pace,” presumably behind Mister O.
“He has some speed, but I don’t think he has that much speed,” said Leaney. “Last weekend, this track was super speed-favoring, so you don’t want to be too far out of it.”
◗ Cap It Daddy, a promising 4-year-old with a win and three close seconds at Emerald this year, is being turned out and will not race again until next year, said trainer Elodio Madrigal. Should he make a similar leap at 5, look for him to be in stakes contention.
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